Finnish gunman kills two students from rooftop

Police on Saturday arrested an 18-year-old man in camouflage fatigues suspected of killing two students in a shooting targeting restaurants packed with teenagers in southern Finland.

The gunman opened fire at about 1:53am from a rooftop in Hyvinkaa, a city about 50km north of Helsinki, aiming at two restaurants where many young people had gathered outside, police said.

The motives for the attack were not yet clear.

Finland has in recent years been hit by several cases of deadly shootings by teenagers, and Finnish President Sauli Niinisto said the killing sprees showed that “something has broken in society.”

An 18-year-old woman was killed on the spot in Saturday’s attack, while a 19-year-old man later died from his injuries. Both were students at a local technical college. Another seven people were hurt, including a 23-year-old police officer who was wounded as she left her vehicle after arriving at the scene, a police spokesman said.

“Shooting erupted suddenly,” Jani Kuronen, a man in his 20s, told public television YLE. “People starting running. One person had a horrible wound on the face. I called an ambulance.”

Another witness, Santeri Silvenoinen, said he heard the gunshots and “then looking around me, I saw a woman lying on the ground and I started running.”

Police did not identify the suspect, but said he was dressed in camouflage fatigues. He was arrested near Hyvinkaa, a city of 45,000 people, without putting up any resistance.

Three firearms, including a hunting rife, were seized from the suspect, who police said had no criminal record.

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